tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38744913764866789892018-03-06T08:40:18.587-08:00Michael Burford's Lame BlogProgramming and other random stuff. Really, I've nothing better to write about?
Twittering at @HeadlightAppsMichaelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15670593399839068429noreply@blogger.comBlogger220125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3874491376486678989.post-63563803747325632552018-01-15T18:24:00.004-08:002018-01-15T18:24:58.911-08:00DragonBreakAnother lifetime ago in the App Store in 2010, I had an idea for a game.&nbsp; It still isn't done, but is likely what I will do next.&nbsp; It is a matching game, but is far from what DragonBreak turned out to be.<br /><br />I worked on it a bit, and really liked it, but decided the graphic drawing requirements were too high, so put it aside.&nbsp; I kept going back to it over the years.<br /><br />Eventually, again years ago in 2014, when SpriteKit came out, I updated the game prototype to use Apple's new-at-the-time API.&nbsp; I added some new ideas to it like the physics so for the "rubble" that fell as you made matches.&nbsp; (Years of working on it, I still get a kick out of how the bits fall and bounce and sometimes blast back up by the falling tiles.)<br /><br />Trying variations on it, something clicked.<br /><br /><h2>Meanwhile...</h2><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-XBdzO3N1vVo/UKGyUT4zGkI/AAAAAAAAMl4/40Avi7SWsu4rDXXTKLY-SajPjIjt4FUEQCPcBGAYYCw/s1600/photo%2B2%2B%252822%2529.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1136" data-original-width="640" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-XBdzO3N1vVo/UKGyUT4zGkI/AAAAAAAAMl4/40Avi7SWsu4rDXXTKLY-SajPjIjt4FUEQCPcBGAYYCw/s320/photo%2B2%2B%252822%2529.PNG" width="180" /></a>Another idea for another game in 2012.&nbsp; <b>DragonBreak</b>.&nbsp; This one got farther along, but ran into both the whole "<a href="http://peter.burford.net/2014/05/surviving-or-not-in-apple-appstore-now.html">fuck we all have to get jobs</a>" and being a Breakout style game, the difficulty was very hard to adjust.<br />Either too slow and easy, or impossibly fast--with little room in the middle.<br /><br />This picture is probably all that anyone but Pete, Shawn and I will ever see of it.&nbsp; It got pretty far along, and looked very cool.<br /><ul><li>Little bouncing dragon egg with the knight as the paddle.&nbsp;&nbsp;</li><li>Bricks and chests got pushed around with physics as the ball bounced.&nbsp;&nbsp;</li><li>Moved continuously.&nbsp; It would slow at an obstacle like this, but still crept forward.&nbsp; Getting the dragon past would scroll ahead to the next obstacle.</li><li>There were a lot of obstacles made, spiders and doors and more...and nobody will see it.</li></ul><br />So I'll surely never finish that, but I really liked the DragonBreak name.<br /><br />Combined with a re-themed branch of that earlier idea, it could work.<br /><br /><h2>Branch...</h2><div>So I took what I had started as the other game, branched it to SKDragonBreak (SpriteKit DragonBreak) and went from there.</div><div><br /></div><div>I knew I could do the programming, but needed graphics.</div><div><br /></div><div>I made a video in 2015 of the game at that point, to send to a couple graphic designers I found in game forums.&nbsp; Placeholder cartoon images and pieces from the other DragonBreak.</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="YOUTUBE-iframe-video" data-thumbnail-src="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/1uh2jCshlk8/0.jpg" frameborder="0" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/1uh2jCshlk8?feature=player_embedded" width="320"></iframe></div><div><br /></div><div>I had each of them do a set of tiles.&nbsp; Not bad, the 2 different styles below.&nbsp; But either would take a lot more graphics for the rest of the game with dragons and backgrounds everything else.&nbsp; I decided to draw them myself.&nbsp;&nbsp;</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-cnQ0qRxP1h0/Wl1cRs-P5bI/AAAAAAAARXM/dj6l_dSfRQEFEjyF5Jvqnvyvm74aApBLQCLcBGAs/s1600/block_1.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="107" data-original-width="107" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-cnQ0qRxP1h0/Wl1cRs-P5bI/AAAAAAAARXM/dj6l_dSfRQEFEjyF5Jvqnvyvm74aApBLQCLcBGAs/s1600/block_1.png" /></a><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-3No9-gI5HcU/Wl1chDM314I/AAAAAAAARXc/bMM6ANItCIAGz4YBEim-m0-xvs0NaDajACLcBGAs/s1600/blue.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="326" data-original-width="327" height="199" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-3No9-gI5HcU/Wl1chDM314I/AAAAAAAARXc/bMM6ANItCIAGz4YBEim-m0-xvs0NaDajACLcBGAs/s200/blue.png" width="200" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">It is all code-based drawing using PaintCode.&nbsp;&nbsp;</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">This lets it automatically generate images of different sizes as needed for different devices.&nbsp;</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Dragon wings can be very random.&nbsp; As I did each I would figure the range that control points could move and still look good, so a huge variety with dragon wings.&nbsp; New wing designs are just setting the color or image to use for the wing texture.&nbsp; (With a few exceptions like speckled that draw so they are random too.)</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Shawn did do a head for the earlier DragonBreak dragons, the the old breakout game didn't use it while playing, but they would appear when clearing a level.&nbsp; Drawing heads is harder, so I stuck to just wings :)&nbsp;&nbsp;</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Eggs have random dots.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Gives me enough confidence that with the right style I can go back and finish that original game idea too...</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><h2 style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Blah, blah, blah.&nbsp;&nbsp;</h2><div style="clear: both; text-align: left;">That's where it started.&nbsp; There is lots of work in the middle.<br /><br /><ul><li>Simple level designer.</li><li>AI so I can make a level and let the AI play it a hundred+ times to figure out the correct number of moves.</li><li>All those other pages, "you won." "you lost." "you are out of eggs."</li><li>Endless tweaking.&nbsp; Picking just the right colors, just the right bounce, just the right animation.</li></ul><br /><br />In the meantime, I have worked at Microsoft for 3 1/2 years on various of their iPhone apps.&nbsp; But evenings and weekends I would find a bit of time and slowly go work on my game.</div><div style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Today, January 15, 2018 I submitted DragonBreak to the App Store.<br /><br /></div>Michaelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15670593399839068429noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3874491376486678989.post-52785893907892870202016-10-09T16:38:00.000-07:002017-01-16T08:17:19.635-08:00Social Networking & Tragedy<i>2009: I'm still debating ever posting this, or just writing to get these thoughts down. &nbsp;</i><br /><i>2013: Its now been 4 years since he died. &nbsp;Rereading still brings tears...not posting this year.</i><br /><i>2016: I have re-read this every year. &nbsp;Litsa, his long-time partner <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Altitude-Sickness-Litsa-Dremousis-ebook/dp/B00OSAZIG4/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1476055761&amp;sr=8-2&amp;keywords=altitude+sickness+book">wrote a book about this that you should buy</a>. &nbsp;&nbsp;</i><br /><br /><div><br /></div><div><b>October 2009</b>: <br />As Facebook and all the other social network sites become more and more a part of our lives, they sometimes then become part of deaths.</div><div><br /></div><div>I'd only met TJ "Bear Attack Guy" Langley a few times. He had been in several plays my brother directed. But really, how can you forget the guy who literally survived a bear attack with the scars to prove it. </div><div><br /></div><div>So he was in several friend-of-a-friend connections. </div><div><br /></div><div>I first heard something was wrong through Facebook on a Thursday as his long-time girlfriend and best friend was posting information that he was missing. He'd gone on a solo hike in the Cascade mountains in Washington State and was 48 hours overdue. I would check throughout the day, seeing as more little bits of information came in; search and rescue starting their actions; finding his car at the trailhead.</div><div><br /></div><div>By Thursday night, getting dark and I knew searches would stop; it was more and more worrying. More of the same all through Friday, people exchanging hopes and prayers that there would be a happy ending and the search increasing. </div><div><br /></div><div>By Friday night and Saturday morning, my wife and I were really scared. Being realistic, even a small accident that prevented him from walking out would have been Tuesday, and with the ever colder fall weather and not sure how many days of supplies he'd have it was scarier and scarier. </div><div><br /></div><div>Finally Saturday evening we saw the news--this time via the newspaper websites instead of Facebook--that his body had been found. Everybody stopped posting at that point, none of the "RIP TJ" posts appearing until the next day.</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>Thanks to Facebook, I did know what was going on...I might not have heard anything otherwise. </div><div><br /></div><div>My two complaints: "Facebook, 'like' isn't the only choice for commenting on a status update."<br /><span style="font-size: x-small;">* Took long enough, but there are more choices now than Like.</span></div><div><br /></div><div>And it was heartbreaking as my wife (fairly new to Facebook herself at the time) was confirmed as a friend of Litsa's after we'd heard the tragic news--and in the "suggested friends" list TJ was listed as another suggested friend.<br /><br /><br /><br /></div>Michaelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15670593399839068429noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3874491376486678989.post-4761157952968615952016-08-07T16:17:00.003-07:002016-09-10T16:10:27.093-07:00iPhone 7 guessesOK, a prediction I haven't seen elsewhere:<br /><br />iPhone 6/6s has had the same "@2x Retina" screen quality that first came out in the iPhone 4 with 326 pixels per inch. <br /><br />The 6 Plus and 6s Plus upped that with a "@3x Retina" screen with 401 pixels per inch.<br /><br />Not sure if the bigger 7 Plus will go up to a 4x Retina and 535 pixels per inch, but I'm predicting the 7 will bump up its screen to a "@3x Retina" with 489 pixels per inch.* &nbsp;Better screen, faster, better camera are always good enough reasons for people to upgrade.<br /><br />(And that's on top of what others have guessed with be a Higher Color Range screen.)<br /><br /><br />* Exactly how it does the <a href="https://www.paintcodeapp.com/news/iphone-6-screens-demystified">6 Plus screen does scaling</a> is a little different, that's why its 3x and iPhone 6's potential 3x aren't the same.<br /><br /><br />UPDATE! &nbsp;Nope.Michaelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15670593399839068429noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3874491376486678989.post-79201622997915803732016-08-06T09:48:00.000-07:002016-09-10T16:10:45.105-07:00Apple Watch 2 GuessesYeah, the usual thinner and more powerful...<br /><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>The watch really does notifications best. &nbsp;Those are a tiny amount of actual content with nice graphical wrappers and animations. &nbsp;</div><div><br /></div><div>My wife and I often communicate in single letters and emoji. &nbsp;"U" &nbsp;"K" &nbsp;"👐"</div><div><br /></div><div>I predict the Watch 2 will have a very custom Cell Phone chip to do notifications. &nbsp;Super low power, and optimized for receiving small amounts of data -- sent via either Apple's push notification service or text message and that's it. &nbsp;According to ancient FAQs, old school Pagers had very long battery life, measured in weeks or months on a AAA battery. &nbsp; &nbsp;</div><div><br /></div><div>Hopefully Apple has the clout to either have it included in your cell phone plan, or baked into the cost of the watch so there's no monthly fee.</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>* Highly compressed voice for Siri is the biggest possible thing it might send. &nbsp;Looking a few minutes at the compression Siri uses, 10 seconds of audio could be about 5K to send, so very small too. &nbsp;Definitely something Apple could do.<br /><br /><br />UPDATE! &nbsp;Nope.</div>Michaelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15670593399839068429noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3874491376486678989.post-86526107333875972632015-09-05T18:17:00.000-07:002016-08-07T16:19:53.861-07:00Force TouchWhen I checked out one of the new MacBooks, I knew that pressing the trackpad wasn't really clicking physically, but simulating it. &nbsp;But my fingers couldn't tell the difference.<br /><br />The Apple Watch does other interesting touch "feelings". &nbsp;Taps when you get a message. &nbsp;Try to scroll beyond the end of a list with the crown and there's a bouncy feel as it snaps back.<br /><br />It's pretty positive that will be added to the new iPhones next week. &nbsp;I think everyone is thinking about the "Force" part of it, missing the "Touch" part when it comes to iPhones. <br /><br />Buttons that have a "click" feel when you press. <br />Lists that bounce back when you drag them too far.<br />Photos that give a "stretchy" feedback as you zoom in.<br /><br />Games get interesting too, pieces that "click" into place as you drag them. <br /><br />Hopefully the "taptic" hardware can simulate all sorts of interesting feedbacks.<br /><br /><br />UPDATE: &nbsp;Nope.Michaelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15670593399839068429noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3874491376486678989.post-72468053040308968742015-07-04T09:33:00.003-07:002015-07-04T09:33:31.933-07:00Playing the App Store lotteryThere are so many existing apps, plus all the new ones, that writing apps really is like playing the lottery these days. <br /><br />A new game has an nearly 100% chance of only ever making enough money for a cup of coffee. &nbsp;It has a small chance of making enough to buy a car. &nbsp;And a tiny chance of making enough to buy a house, or even a small island. &nbsp;(There are 1 million apps, top 100 least are the house or island category--1 in 10,000 odds. &nbsp;The top few are in the by a "large island" category.)<br /><div><br /></div><div>I saw a report (and promptly forgot where) that about 12,000 new games come out each month.</div><div><br /></div><div>That's 3,000 a week. &nbsp;</div><div><br /></div><div>Apple features some of those new games each week. &nbsp;And that's really all that matters. &nbsp;Unless you have a lot of money to spend on ads, get <i>very</i> lucky, or do shady things like buying downloads, being one of those featured games is the only path to success.<br /><br />Right now, Apple features about 15. &nbsp;And they do want to mix it up so it is not all the same type: some action games, some puzzles, some driving ones, etc. &nbsp;So you don't have to be in the top 15 out of all 3,000 to get featured, its more like the top one or two out of the style of game you make, so say the top 2 out of 500.</div><div><br /></div><div>2 in 500 aren't great odds. &nbsp;But the potential payoff if you get that winning ticket is immense.</div><div><br /></div><div>So I'll keep playing the app game...<br /><br /><br /></div>Michaelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15670593399839068429noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3874491376486678989.post-3068735573878104272015-05-07T21:55:00.002-07:002015-05-07T21:55:33.134-07:00GesturesA few years ago, checking your phone while at dinner with someone would've been considered pretty rude. &nbsp;But not so much any more. <br /><br />There's really a formula to it, the more people in the group, the less rude it is to check your phone. &nbsp;It drops quickly to "normal behavior" once the group has 3 or 4 members.<br /><br />Now, checking your watch (Apple Watch) sends the message you have somewhere else to be. &nbsp;But I bet that changes too, as more and more people have watches and devices that show their messages and emails. &nbsp;Glancing at the screen, then getting out the iPhone only if it's something more important than the people you're with.Michaelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15670593399839068429noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3874491376486678989.post-26581441377691481802015-03-21T09:30:00.002-07:002015-03-21T09:31:22.192-07:00Is the App Store really this fucked?One of our apps, <a href="https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/contactclean-pro-address-book/id477302021?mt=8">Contact Clean Pro</a>, jumped up to nearly the top 50 in Productivity.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-8oMrY6FVRig/VQ2aXlLWi8I/AAAAAAAAQDY/FGagDyo7d6Q/s1600/Screen%2BShot%2B2015-03-21%2Bat%2B9.19.44%2BAM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-8oMrY6FVRig/VQ2aXlLWi8I/AAAAAAAAQDY/FGagDyo7d6Q/s1600/Screen%2BShot%2B2015-03-21%2Bat%2B9.19.44%2BAM.png" height="216" width="320" /></a></div><br />The day it jumped up wasn't a particularly good day for it, selling <b>4</b> copies. &nbsp;The recent best was a couple weeks ago when it sold 13(!), about the time it was at very bottom of the top 200 graph above.<br /><br />So for iPhone Productivity apps, any app that is out of the top 200 is selling single digit copies a day at best. &nbsp;So of the thousands and thousands of productivity apps, most are making virtually nothing. &nbsp;With a very large percent making absolutely nothing.<br /><br />But the lucky 10 or so at the top are likely selling hundreds or thousands of copies a day. Michaelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15670593399839068429noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3874491376486678989.post-13530415849294050282015-03-21T08:13:00.000-07:002015-03-21T08:13:13.271-07:00Apple Watch vs BatteryI wanted to get an idea for the size of the Apple Watches, so looked for similar every day objects.<br /><br />AAA batteries are a pretty good match! <br /><br /><ul><li>All models of the watch are exactly the same thickness as a triple-a battery. &nbsp;</li><li>Three AAA batteries together are a little longer and a little thinner than the bigger 42mm Apple Watch.</li><li>Those same three batteries are about the same weight as the watch part of the Sport model, 33 vs 30 grams (for all, bands add more.) &nbsp;</li><li>The steel model weighs in the middle between 4 and 5 AAA batteries.</li><li>The gold model weighs the same as 6 AAA batteries.&nbsp;</li></ul>Michaelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15670593399839068429noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3874491376486678989.post-59329477529073785492015-01-26T21:52:00.001-08:002015-01-26T21:52:21.970-08:00Sci-fi geekeryI've never seen it taken advantage of in any of the Sci-fi books I've read or TV shows or movies I've seen...<br /><br />With faster than light travel, combined with adequate sensors or telescopes, nothing that happens in public--<b>ever</b>--is private or a mystery.<br /><br />Want to see what happened during that battle 2 days ago? &nbsp;Fly your ship 2 light-days away, turn around and with a telescope you can simply watch it happen in real time. <br /><br />I suppose that does cut through all the discover-what-happened mystery plot devices and is why it's not used in Star Trek, etc. &nbsp;But still could be a cool bit for a book :)Michaelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15670593399839068429noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3874491376486678989.post-42406630542934918252015-01-04T10:26:00.000-08:002015-01-26T21:50:58.817-08:00Long tail of rotten appsWhile there are some I'm still working on, we have a bunch of dead apps. &nbsp;Things that haven't been updated in years, and no plans to ever do more. &nbsp;(With the new day job, even the actively developed ones get changes and updates much more slowly.)<br /><br />We started the <a href="http://topappcharts.com/">TopAppCharts.com</a> website back in July 2009. &nbsp;It doesn't have every app, but has all those that got into any of the US top 200 lists for any category since then. &nbsp;The database says there are over 410,000 apps. &nbsp;That's an interesting stat right there, there's way over a million apps, so well over half of the apps released never got into any US top list and were likely dead on arrival.<br /><br /><br />Apple's App Lookup does not include the "last updated" date, and I wanted to use Apple's public APIs and not scrape the iTunes site, so I had to look at the list of supported devices. &nbsp; Any app that was compiled to support a newer iOS and take advantage of its new features (like those new-fangled Retina screens back in 2010) would lose support for older devices, which gives a rough idea of when the app last had any updates.<br /><br />Original iPhone support ended with the release of iOS 4; June 2010<br />iPhone 3G support ended&nbsp;with the release of&nbsp;iOS 5; October 2011<br />iPhone 3GS support ended&nbsp;with the release of&nbsp;iOS 7; September 2013 (iOS7 required for submission Feb 2014)<br />iPhone 4 support ended&nbsp;with the release of&nbsp;iOS 8; September 2014<br /><br />I can't find dates for some older things, when iOS 4/5/6 support was required for submission. <br /><br /><br /><b>Stats</b><br /><br />38,362 or 9% of the apps we know about still support the original iPhone, so haven't been updated since around 2010 and wouldn't support Retina screens.<br /><br />20,320 or 4% still support the iPhone3G, so haven't been updated since 2011.<br /><br />137,027 or 33% still support the iPhone 3GS, so haven't been updated since 2014. &nbsp;These would look old-style on iOS 7 and definitely wouldn't take advantage of iPhone 6/6plus screens.<br /><br /><br />So 46% of all the apps tracked by our site haven't been updated since last year at the earliest. &nbsp;And 13% haven't been updated in 3+ years. &nbsp;The huge number of apps we don't have in the database&nbsp;<b>never</b>&nbsp;got into any top selling list since 2009, so I'm sure would be far higher percentage of "dead".<br /><br />There's a good chance those old apps will have some problem with newer iOS versions, so probably won't work on your new iPhone 6 anyway.<br /><br />Michaelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15670593399839068429noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3874491376486678989.post-39125639262770587552015-01-02T12:46:00.002-08:002015-01-04T10:27:30.503-08:00More App Store sadnessOur <a href="http://app2.it/holdem">Heads Up Hold'em</a> got to the top 25 list in the iPhone Casino games category a couple weeks ago.<br /><br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-rTmwz2AzUZY/VKb_zsLTI9I/AAAAAAAAQAM/WKHed4FldUU/s1600/Screen%2BShot%2B2015-01-02%2Bat%2B12.29.37%2BPM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-rTmwz2AzUZY/VKb_zsLTI9I/AAAAAAAAQAM/WKHed4FldUU/s1600/Screen%2BShot%2B2015-01-02%2Bat%2B12.29.37%2BPM.png" height="255" width="400" /></a></div><br /><br />Surely that means it selling well? <br />Nope. &nbsp;It sold <b>4</b> copies that day. &nbsp;There isn't an easy way to see how many apps are in a category any more--but I know there are thousands of games in the paid Casino games. &nbsp;All but 25 must be selling 4 or fewer copies a day. &nbsp;Sad for everyone.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-WK1SG09CaV0/VKb_zbLKOOI/AAAAAAAAQAQ/0xAm3uZXxys/s1600/Screen%2BShot%2B2015-01-02%2Bat%2B12.27.45%2BPM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-WK1SG09CaV0/VKb_zbLKOOI/AAAAAAAAQAQ/0xAm3uZXxys/s1600/Screen%2BShot%2B2015-01-02%2Bat%2B12.27.45%2BPM.png" height="281" width="400" /></a></div><br />Michaelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15670593399839068429noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3874491376486678989.post-44674468726460386932014-10-04T17:05:00.001-07:002014-10-04T17:13:58.451-07:00The continuing problem with surviving in the App Store.<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">New iPhones came out! &nbsp;10 Million people bought a new iPhone in the first weekend! &nbsp;Wow, we must have sold a ton of apps.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Nope.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Here's a graph of three months worth of sales, including September 19th. &nbsp;They weren't bad days when the new iPhones came out, but they don't stand out in the chart at all. &nbsp;Just a regular old slightly better than average day (preceded by 3 worse than average days.) &nbsp;</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">10 million new iPhones, everyone using their shiny new devices. &nbsp;Negligible app sales. &nbsp;WTF.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-POcWRsw4aG8/VDCJeZQDZPI/AAAAAAAAPT4/rA1xJ28UBDg/s1600/Screen%2BShot%2B2014-10-04%2Bat%2B4.57.25%2BPM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-POcWRsw4aG8/VDCJeZQDZPI/AAAAAAAAPT4/rA1xJ28UBDg/s1600/Screen%2BShot%2B2014-10-04%2Bat%2B4.57.25%2BPM.png" height="147" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br />Michaelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15670593399839068429noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3874491376486678989.post-43778037614947371652014-07-29T22:38:00.002-07:002014-07-30T05:38:25.246-07:00Where are the Indie iOS developers you ask?I've been an "Indie" developer since before it was a word. &nbsp;Back when I started my company in 1997 it was "Shareware".<br /><br />The company, Headlight Software, grew from a Windows program, <a href="http://getright.com/">GetRight</a>, to a small team of my brother Pete, friend Shawn, and later my wife. &nbsp;In 2008 we jumped to the App Store, and were among the first app developers. &nbsp;<a href="http://app2.it/ftppro">FTP On The Go</a> came out about a month after the store opened.<br /><br />That was one of the big things we did right. &nbsp;It wasn't a fad type app, but a pretty good niche business/website tool. &nbsp;FTP clients have been around for 20 or 30 years, so aren't going anywhere. &nbsp;For a good long time there weren't really any competitors either. &nbsp;There can't be many apps that came out in the first month of the App Store that are still being developed.<br /><br /><h3>Sales Data (FTP On The Go)</h3><br />Here is a graph of the total App Store sales revenue since when FTP came out August 3, 2008. &nbsp;I'm a few days early, but call it 6 years of sales data.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-_XxVq3poW1s/U9h1Va0X3uI/AAAAAAAAPRo/FRaur6PjD_0/s1600/Screen+Shot+2014-07-29+at+9.31.23+PM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-_XxVq3poW1s/U9h1Va0X3uI/AAAAAAAAPRo/FRaur6PjD_0/s1600/Screen+Shot+2014-07-29+at+9.31.23+PM.png" height="344" width="640" /></a></div><br />When the iPad first came out, we did a new FTP On The Go PRO version which is the big pink section starting in 2010; and at the tail end in 2013 the orange and purples are the <a href="http://michael.burford.net/2013/09/how-to-do-discount-pricing-for-app.html">Discounted Upgrade</a> versions we did when changing to iOS 7.<br /><br />As you can see, the party really ended the middle of 2012.<br /><br /><h2>Sales Data (All Our Apps)</h2><br />We did other apps, and had other more minor successes, but the business basically mirrors the sales of FTP. <br /><br />The big peak in early 2010 was <a href="http://app2.it/knife">Knife Dancing</a>'s crazy ride to the #1 free game--it got into the 100 top grossing as well, back long enough ago, if you can imagine it, that there were only 1 or 2 other free apps in the top grossing charts at the time! <br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-N6rEfSDqiF0/U9h4lvdbJrI/AAAAAAAAPSI/zlfQqK4gfnU/s1600/Screen+Shot+2014-07-29+at+9.40.27+PM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-N6rEfSDqiF0/U9h4lvdbJrI/AAAAAAAAPSI/zlfQqK4gfnU/s1600/Screen+Shot+2014-07-29+at+9.40.27+PM.png" height="314" width="640" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Unfortunately, there's another important line in that chart above. &nbsp;That red line right across the chart. &nbsp;That line has the label "Profitable".</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Yeah, Fuck. &nbsp;</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">You'll see that since early 2012 the income has been below that line (yes, it was below that line in the beginning too; GetRight has been on a similar trajectory--its declining revenues where higher back then.) &nbsp;The business had built up a cushion in the bank, but nothing lasts forever. &nbsp;We fought like crazy, and worked our asses off. &nbsp;But nothing. &nbsp;We had to cut salaries last year. &nbsp;Finally, earlier this year I had to cut hours and we knew it was coming to an end. &nbsp;</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">We all landed on our feet; but that means Headlight stuff only gets done on a weekend or occasional evening after a long day at work.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">It has been a good long run, 17 years in business and counting. &nbsp;Sales are still not $0. &nbsp;At the current rate, it could have supported just me a bit longer (at a pretty low income, a fraction of what I'm making at a regular job as an iOS programmer) but the writing is on the wall. &nbsp;I found something new rather than waiting 6 months or a year when things could be much more desperate.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">Its crazy that even working somewhere else full time, and doing Headlight work in my spare hours, it is still likely one of the bigger Indie developers--which is a sad sign for all app developers.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">That's where Indie app developers are. &nbsp;Getting jobs.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><b><a href="http://peter.burford.net/2014/05/surviving-or-not-in-apple-appstore-now.html">You should read my brother's take on the whole thing too</a>.</b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">And a year ago, but I bet <a href="http://michael.burford.net/2013/06/apps-8020.html">this math</a> is still close if not even worse.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><i>Update1: Cool, you read this far, thanks! &nbsp;Now the real question, will you help one of many struggling indie developers and go and <a href="http://app2.it/ftppro">spend $10 on an app</a>?</i></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div>Michaelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15670593399839068429noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3874491376486678989.post-90821614303944540412014-05-20T17:49:00.002-07:002014-05-20T17:49:15.409-07:001704 x 960I'd read on one of the many <a href="http://www.macrumors.com/2014/05/14/iphone-6-retina-display/">Apple rumor</a> sites that the next bigger iPhone might have that new resolution of 1704x960.<br /><br />History stuff that developers can skip...<br /><blockquote class="tr_bq">The original iPhones had a resolution of 480x320. &nbsp;Going to the iPhone 4 got 4 times as many pixels, but kept the same "logical" resolution, just going to half sizes for a new physical resolution of 960x640. &nbsp;Buttons and everything else would be the same sizes and positions, so apps didn't have to change to work. &nbsp;Developers could give a &nbsp;new image with a bigger size and @2x as part of the name, and everything magically worked to use the higher resolution image.</blockquote><blockquote class="tr_bq">iPhone 5 got a little taller screen and has a logical size of 568x320, with a corresponding physical resolution of 1136x640.</blockquote><br />The rumored 1704x960 continues Apple's retina trend and is 3 times the size of the iPhone 5's logical pixels of 568x320. Existing apps would be slightly stretched, but would all work exactly the same. &nbsp;I'm sure developers can have new images named @3x to get extra sharpness at that new screen size.<br /><br />If 1704x960 the new size, and I'd bet a lot that it is, I'm sure Apple will do all that. &nbsp;Easy and straightforward, same sort of transition and image resolution updates everyone has gotten used to with Retina screens. &nbsp;Everything works as-is.<br /><br /><h4>But what if they also add a new option developers can set to say "I want a new Logical size of 852x480"? &nbsp;</h4>Instead of simply being stretched to use the new bigger screen, it would give a new logical size to work with. That seems it would be a cool additional way to take advantage of the new bigger screen. &nbsp;Especially for things that deal with text like web browsers and especially web pages.<br /><br />HTML, CSS, and Javascript seems much easier to update and format with a 1/2 point logical resolution than 1/3 point ones. &nbsp;(Since those third point fractions are endless .33333333333<u>3</u>&nbsp;and 0.66666666<u>6</u>&nbsp;)<br /><br />And has an additional advantage that an app wouldn't need 3 sized copies of the same image 1x, 2x, 3x. &nbsp;Just 1x and 2x.Michaelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15670593399839068429noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3874491376486678989.post-85629943776946108862014-05-11T11:33:00.001-07:002014-05-11T17:27:09.304-07:00APPocalypse: What an Awesome review gets you<i>Among the first in what I bet will be a bunch of posts about the sad state of selling Apps in the App Store. &nbsp;<a href="http://peter.burford.net/2014/05/the-sad-state-of-paid-ios-apps.html">Pete's excellent one here as well</a>.</i><br /><br />Our game <a href="http://app2.it/blocd">bloc'd</a> that came out the end of March got an awesome review, better than anything I could have written myself.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.tuaw.com/2014/03/25/blocd-is-a-highly-addictive-riff-on-tetris-that-you-should-down/">http://www.tuaw.com/2014/03/25/blocd-is-a-highly-addictive-riff-on-tetris-that-you-should-down/</a><br /><br />Tuaw.com is one of the best known Apple blog websites, so we thought "Great! &nbsp;Other sites will see it, maybe even somebody at Apple will see it and like the game."<br /><br />Not so much. The blog article itself got <strike>ripped off</strike> linked to, but no other sites did a review.<br /><br />But how did that really convert into sales? &nbsp;Here's actual numbers from AppViz. <br /><br />It had dropped from some higher peaks in the first day after it was released. &nbsp;The blog post got a nice spike in downloads, but it only lasted a few days.<br /><br />Counting the days of the post and a week after, we made $27.17 in that time. &nbsp;Which while a pathetically sad number, does compare favorably to the TOTAL of $37.12 that the app has made as of today. &nbsp;The green lines are the free download numbers. &nbsp;The little blue bits on top are the In-App purchases that make some money.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-YwZ9Zy0PEv0/U2-6sju2P2I/AAAAAAAAPPw/hhySz1S54Yk/s1600/Screen+Shot+2014-05-11+at+10.58.22+AM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-YwZ9Zy0PEv0/U2-6sju2P2I/AAAAAAAAPPw/hhySz1S54Yk/s1600/Screen+Shot+2014-05-11+at+10.58.22+AM.png" height="187" width="640" /></a></div><br />Part of the Plan B was to do some other rule variations with the same gameplay. &nbsp;We did that and released it as a separate game. &nbsp;<a href="http://app2.it/bloc3d">Bloc3d</a>. &nbsp;It's strictly a paid $1 game. &nbsp;I'll post some stats for that one after it has been out for a bit longer...<br /><br /><br /><i>Update: &nbsp;Pete's Skype comments were worth adding:</i><br /><blockquote class="tr_bq"><i>Read your blog post in the middle of the night, more sad truths. &nbsp;That one really shows the non-discoverability. &nbsp;When you're promoted you get downloads. &nbsp;When the promotion stops, the downloads stop immediately. &nbsp;No long tail anymore, just switch off.</i></blockquote>Michaelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15670593399839068429noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3874491376486678989.post-1130085667145400052014-05-07T10:17:00.000-07:002014-05-12T09:21:01.100-07:00+1 for Apple<div class="tr_bq">No more original title needed: <strike>Damn you Ellen DeGeneres*</strike><br /><br />We have made a number of poker games, first coming out in March 2009.</div><br /><a href="https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/heads-up-holdem-1-on-1-poker/id307290392?mt=8">Heads Up: Hold'em</a>&nbsp;was the first, using the common poker term in the name, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heads_up_poker">Heads Up</a>.<br /><br />In April 2013, Ellen DeGeneres'&nbsp;<a href="https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/heads-up!/id623592465?mt=8">Heads Up!</a>&nbsp;game came out. &nbsp;There was a small bump when their app came out. &nbsp;That spike is a hundred or so people who maybe downloaded the wrong app. &nbsp;But overall, our poker games sales are considerably lower now then they were before Heads Up! came out. <br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-tJicwCNZNLk/U2F1fYgCbcI/AAAAAAAAPPM/F-vaExB8eDk/s1600/headsup-sales.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-tJicwCNZNLk/U2F1fYgCbcI/AAAAAAAAPPM/F-vaExB8eDk/s1600/headsup-sales.png" height="128" width="640" /></a></div><br />We've been happily co-existing for a year now. &nbsp;Until we submitted a new game, using our existing branding scheme. &nbsp;<b>Heads Up: All In.</b>&nbsp; And Apple rejected it... <br /><br /><blockquote><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #333333; font-size: 12.727272033691406px;">22.2</span></span><span style="background-color: white;"><br style="color: #333333; font-size: 12.727272033691406px;" /></span></span><br /><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #333333; font-size: 12.727272033691406px;">We found that your app, and its metadata, contains content that could be misleading to users, which is not in compliance with the&nbsp;</span><a href="https://developer.apple.com/appstore/resources/approval/guidelines.html" style="color: #0088cc; font-size: 12.727272033691406px; text-decoration: none;">App Store Review Guidelines</a><span style="color: #333333; font-size: 12.727272033691406px;">.</span></span>&nbsp;</span><br /><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #333333; font-size: 12.727272033691406px;">If your iTunes Connect Application State is&nbsp;</span><b style="color: #333333; font-size: 12.727272033691406px;">Rejected</b><span style="color: #333333; font-size: 12.727272033691406px;">, a new binary will be required. Make the desired metadata changes when you upload the new binary.</span></span></span><br /></blockquote><blockquote><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #333333; font-size: 12.727272033691406px;">Specifically, your app name leverages a popular app on the App Store which could be misleading to users.&nbsp;</span></span>&nbsp;</span></blockquote><blockquote><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #333333; font-size: 12.727272033691406px;">It would be appropriate to remove or revise any misleading content from your app name.</span></span><span style="background-color: white;"><br style="color: #333333; font-size: 12.727272033691406px;" /></span></span></blockquote><br />We've resubmitted it with a bug fix (some mixed up GameCenter stuff), and a set of reasons why I think we should be able to use the name. <br /><br /><blockquote><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">This app was rejected for using the "Heads Up" as part of the name. &nbsp;There are a few reasons I think we should still be allowed to use this name. &nbsp;&nbsp;</span></blockquote><blockquote><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">1) &nbsp; Our use of "Heads Up: Xyz" naming of poker games pre-dates the newer popular game by 4 years. &nbsp;Our game https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/heads-up-holdem-1-on-1-poker/id307290392?mt=8 first used this name in March 2009. &nbsp;The other "Heads Up!" game first came out in April 2013. &nbsp;&nbsp;</span></blockquote><blockquote><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">2) &nbsp;"Heads Up" is a common poker term. &nbsp;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heads_up_poker &nbsp;</span></blockquote><blockquote><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">3) &nbsp;I can sadly confirm we've gotten no benefit of their using a similar name to our existing apps. &nbsp;http://headlightinc.com/headsup-sales.png shows a small spike in one of our poker apps around the time their game first came out. &nbsp;But overall the downloads are significantly lower than before their "Heads Up!" came out.&nbsp;</span></blockquote>It got rejected again, for the same naming reason. &nbsp;This time, I submitted much the same message to the App Review Board, a higher level appeal. &nbsp;And they OK'd it and accepted the app! &nbsp;Thanks, Apple! <br /><br /><a href="https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/heads-up-all-in-1-on-1-poker/id848469197?mt=8"><b>Heads Up: All In</b> is available in the App Store now</a>.<br /><br /><br /><i>* I knew posting a complaint about Apple will get nothing as a response from Apple. &nbsp;But maybe Ellen has people out looking for blog posts damning her. &nbsp;That was a hope that it would make a few minutes of good TV :)</i>Michaelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15670593399839068429noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3874491376486678989.post-36640626906273255602014-04-02T11:44:00.002-07:002014-04-02T11:44:22.540-07:00Congrats, MicrosoftFor a long time, it seemed Microsoft was doing things to compete in the world as it used to be, or in the world they wished it was.<br /><br />But in the past week or so that changed. &nbsp;Office for iPad, and now $0 for Windows on phones and small tablets.<br /><br />Great ways to attack the world of today! &nbsp;I'm sure are all a credit to the new CEO.<br /><br /><br />One interesting thing to see how it pans out: &nbsp;Android makers have had to pay a license for various patents to Microsoft, $5 per phone or something like that. &nbsp;I assume that's not happening with the new $0 Windows license. &nbsp;Suddenly, it's cheaper to make a Windows phone than an Android one. &nbsp;Smart move.Michaelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15670593399839068429noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3874491376486678989.post-79952864676298018832014-04-01T12:45:00.000-07:002014-04-01T12:45:11.112-07:00bloc'd. Tower Defense + Match 3<i>Grr, blogger deleted the post I'd been adding to over the course of a year+ as these various prototypes happened. &nbsp;Thankfully the screenshots were still around. &nbsp;</i><br /><i><br /></i>What became <a href="http://app2.it/blocd">bloc'd</a> started because I was thinking about Tower Defense games, and why I didn't like them that much. &nbsp;Place the thing in the right spot for the incoming monsters, wait, tap to pickup coins, repeat.<br /><br /><br />The first test was as a potential new game mode in our game <a href="http://app2.it/pawnd">Pawn'd</a>. &nbsp;We've still not added it, but I think it would work nicely there too. &nbsp;As the dragon came across, you could attack it by matching pieces with the color it is next to. &nbsp;So below, the purple and blue (Pawn and Knight) can attack the little dragon below them. &nbsp;Keep the dragons from getting all the way across!<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-CN9-anPbRfk/UPmKZB20qAI/AAAAAAAANvU/na6-_NIH3tg/s1600/photo+%252832%2529.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-CN9-anPbRfk/UPmKZB20qAI/AAAAAAAANvU/na6-_NIH3tg/s1600/photo+%252832%2529.PNG" height="320" width="180" /></a></div><br />That got into a lot of prototypes, starting in January 2013. &nbsp;(So the final product came out a bit over a year after the first test ideas.)<br /><br />We weren't sure what sort of game or theme it might be. &nbsp;Below might be hordes of little red square Orcs attacking towers in the center of the circles. &nbsp;Each tower has a type of ammo (arrows, magic, stones), which you would use to attack by matching the colors in connected lines. &nbsp;They could shoot Orcs in the range of their circle. &nbsp;The extra white color could be coins to collect to upgrade the tower or repair damage.<br /><br />I think there's a good game in that...but seemed like the graphic art requirements would be high--lots of little animated monsters. <br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-o1VmNj5o5p4/UP72CVpr3vI/AAAAAAAANyo/3VpuYPxCYB4/s1600/photo+%252834%2529.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-o1VmNj5o5p4/UP72CVpr3vI/AAAAAAAANyo/3VpuYPxCYB4/s1600/photo+%252834%2529.PNG" height="320" width="240" /></a></div><br />I think this one was similar but with different sized units.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-rZG5KyWXw7c/UQHhV_mRa5I/AAAAAAAANzM/K07QLQ_X-3M/s1600/photo+%25288%2529.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-rZG5KyWXw7c/UQHhV_mRa5I/AAAAAAAANzM/K07QLQ_X-3M/s1600/photo+%25288%2529.PNG" height="320" width="240" /></a></div><br />It evolved into a "big" enemy that dropped small ones. &nbsp;The 91 orbited the center of the green, and dropped small white units--each drop is minus 1. &nbsp;Matching a color when the big one passes through its range reduces the big enemy too. <br /><br />It orbited in something like 10 seconds, so there was a big timing aspect. &nbsp;Can you make a big match in Red while the big enemy is passing through. &nbsp;Match quickly to keep the little ones from attacking your tower too. &nbsp;One little one in range destroyed by each tile matched.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-rRzh-0Pg61Q/UQnJ59bcYEI/AAAAAAAANzo/PGPbWV65qhs/s1600/photo+%252836%2529.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-rRzh-0Pg61Q/UQnJ59bcYEI/AAAAAAAANzo/PGPbWV65qhs/s1600/photo+%252836%2529.PNG" height="320" width="240" /></a></div><br />If we'd have finished it, an alien-invasion theme was the likely direction. &nbsp;Same gameplay as above, but a different skin (just a mockup Shawn did.)<br /><br />Again, I think there's a good game with this variation too. &nbsp;Much lower graphic art needs. &nbsp;A nice computer console type look.... &nbsp;<i>(which I may get to in a later post :)</i><br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-CqUxei2m99k/USLlPzhy9VI/AAAAAAAAN0g/zbvsoXKvXZs/s1600/Invasion-interface-mockup.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-CqUxei2m99k/USLlPzhy9VI/AAAAAAAAN0g/zbvsoXKvXZs/s1600/Invasion-interface-mockup.png" height="320" width="214" /></a></div><br />There were various months long lulls between all those prototypes above. &nbsp;Do some new idea in an afternoon, then marinate on it for months as other things were happening.<br /><br />What finally became bloc'd came in August 2013. &nbsp;This prototype had too many incoming things, but it got the right mechanic with little shapes you had to match.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-MQXDqrKhK6Y/UhK-W1gDvgI/AAAAAAAAPAM/5YCkzi9jxWQ/s1600/photo+%252825%2529.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-MQXDqrKhK6Y/UhK-W1gDvgI/AAAAAAAAPAM/5YCkzi9jxWQ/s1600/photo+%252825%2529.png" height="320" width="180" /></a></div><br />It again sat for months, until I was showing off some in-progress things at an NSCoder Night in Seattle. &nbsp;It seemed close so I revisited it while on vacation in Feb 2014 a few weeks later. &nbsp;It mostly got done on that trip, typing away in the evenings :) <br /><br />It only needed a few graphics, Pete did a little texturing so the squares weren't simply solid squares (my programmer art.)<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-hMG89NeRRxc/Uw5nOe4CMXI/AAAAAAAAPMY/mn72l4yxoKA/s1600/1.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-hMG89NeRRxc/Uw5nOe4CMXI/AAAAAAAAPMY/mn72l4yxoKA/s1600/1.png" height="320" width="213" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">And that's it! &nbsp;The name was about the last thing we came up with before submitting. &nbsp;The basic mechanic of matching shapes seems like it can work with more game modes...so trying some of our ideas to add into updates!</div>Michaelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15670593399839068429noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3874491376486678989.post-29832522354003250342014-02-26T14:07:00.001-08:002014-02-26T14:07:13.804-08:00Minus Apple.What if, instead of bringing Apple back from the brink in 1996, something different had happened? Bringing Steve Jobs back too late, or any of a number of other choices and Apple failed back in the late 1990s.<br /><br />What would have happened? &nbsp;Sorry Microsoft, "Windows or Nothing" really <a href="http://appleinsider.com/articles/13/09/07/the-apple-era-begins-as-microsoft-google-shift-to-a-hardware-centric-model">dead-ended your technological progress</a>. &nbsp;You'd had the ideas, but 10 years of shoehorning Windows onto tablet and phone type devices hadn't worked as well as Apple did it on their first try*. <br /><br />Even being shown the way with the iPad and <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eywi0h_Y5_U">iPhone</a>, and having a Metro UI that (to me) seems best designed for Tablets out of all devices, you still couldn't make Surface work. &nbsp;Nobody at the top could tell the Office team to "make Office work on this tablet, damn it"? &nbsp;Office makes money, but isn't exciting** so doesn't sell tablets to people at home.<br /><br />No Apple means no iPod, no iPhone, no iPad. &nbsp;We'd have nice tiny little cell phones that lasted a month on a charge. &nbsp;That seems like what cell phone companies were competing on before the iPhone--<a href="http://www.nokia.com/global/products/phone/105/">size and battery life</a>; but like the older ones with a tiny screen and hardware keyboard or number pad. <br /><br />Could anyone else gotten something like iTunes launched--and been friendly to people with 99¢ songs? <br /><br />Tablets would have stayed as weird niche devices that ran bastard versions of Windows.<br /><br />No Macbook Air and we'd be stuck with monstrous yet plastic and flimsy laptops.<br /><br /><br />Who could have developed those without Apple to show the way?<br /><br />I'd bet that the company to finally pull things off would have been Amazon. &nbsp;The first Kindle came out in late 2007 so must have been in development before the iPhone was announced in early 2007. &nbsp;Amazon started selling books, so an e-reader device made sense. <br /><br />For them, moving to something like the Kindle Fire type tablet that did books as well as video would be the next step. &nbsp;(Though without Apple it might have had a decent size screen with a hardware keyboard under it like the first few versions of the Kindle did. &nbsp;Looking back, the design of the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amazon_Kindle">first Kindle</a> was crazy and weird.)<br /><br />We'd have gotten tablets, but even more oriented as entertainment consumption. &nbsp;Would there have been apps? <br /><br /><br />Thankfully, Apple didn't die.<br /><br />----<br /><br /><span style="font-size: x-small;">* Apple surely had 100s of tries too, but all internal things that nobody else saw. &nbsp;</span><br /><span style="font-size: x-small;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: x-small;">** Lots of money, so far. &nbsp;But that won't last. &nbsp;People use Office because they have to for work. &nbsp;I'm sure the new versions are a bit more advanced than the nearly 20 year old(!) versions for Windows 95. &nbsp;But they do the same thing. &nbsp;Most people would still be happy with that years old version. &nbsp;I've been happy with Google Docs for the few times a year I needed printed documents, but the new iCloud ones look great so I've been using them too.</span>Michaelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15670593399839068429noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3874491376486678989.post-17375852098146468852014-02-18T10:37:00.000-08:002014-02-18T10:37:27.161-08:00Flying Brick!We had no plans to make any sort of Flappy Bird clone, until I read about the <a href="http://itch.io/jam/flappyjam">FlappyJam </a>:) &nbsp;80% was done sitting in a hospital waiting room, so it was a nice break and distraction from that.<br /><br />Two main ideas for our variation. <br /><br /><b><span style="font-size: large;">1)</span></b> First was to have something that doesn't fly well, so takes a LOT of tapping*. &nbsp;A brick was the first thought.<br /><br /><b><span style="font-size: large;">2)</span></b> And I had a crazy idea for monetization. &nbsp;Let people pay to buy "Cheats" kinda like a point doubler in many games. &nbsp;But taken to extremes. &nbsp;$0.99 for a simple point doubler (2 points per tunnel), all the way up to $99 for a thousand points per tunnel. &nbsp;<br /><br />For awhile, it was $999 for the thousand pointer, but we decided that might be too crazy to start--but if people buy the $99 one, we'll add it in an update as a Million or Billion pointer! &nbsp;Even in testing mode, with a test iTunes account that has no credit card, it gave me butterflies to click to buy that $999 one.<br /><br />Spend $99 and you'll pretty much be guaranteed to set one of the top scores :)<br /><br /><br />News came out as it was in progress, that "Flappy" in the name was getting rejected. &nbsp;So it is "<b>Flying Brick</b>" (Somebody else had squatted on Flappy Brick in iTunes anyway, so just as well we had to change it.)<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Si-fmPFfRBk/UwOmv5Ob52I/AAAAAAAAPLg/kJkkhm1KgVs/s1600/iOS+Simulator+Screen+shot+Feb+18,+2014,+8.11.47+AM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Si-fmPFfRBk/UwOmv5Ob52I/AAAAAAAAPLg/kJkkhm1KgVs/s1600/iOS+Simulator+Screen+shot+Feb+18,+2014,+8.11.47+AM.png" height="320" width="213" /></a></div><br />All the graphics from <a href="http://app2.it/world11"><b>WORLD 1-1</b></a> made it easy, Shawn drew a cute face to add to a simple red brick. &nbsp;A couple days from start to finish :)<br /><br /><br />* One of the game testing/evaluating things my brother Pete thought of a year or two ago: &nbsp;How many taps or actions you do in the first minute of gameplay. &nbsp;It led to a couple games getting put on the back burner, since as action games, they didn't get to the action quick enough.<br /><br />That's something that the original Flappy Bird nailed.<br /><br />Flying Brick passes that test with flying colors too. &nbsp;I counted 12 taps in about the first 2 seconds of gameplay, getting to the first obstacle.<br /><br /><br />Michaelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15670593399839068429noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3874491376486678989.post-62603833644889609782014-01-29T15:48:00.003-08:002014-01-29T15:50:32.457-08:00Flushing $9.5 Billion."I bet it would take longer to literally flush $9.5 billion in cash down a toilet than it took for Google to do so figuratively on the Motorola acquisition." - <a href="http://daringfireball.net/linked/2014/01/29/lenovorola">DaringFireball</a><br /><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>My toilet is ready to flush again after 30 seconds. &nbsp;That gives 2,880 flushes a day.</div><div><br /></div><div>I'd say 20 bills at a time is the max before my toilet would start to get clogged (and that's being generous...and I'm not going to test this number.)</div><div><br /></div><div>Going with the smallest bill, flushing single dollars, that's only $57,600 a day. &nbsp;You're flushing for 166,666 days or 456 years.</div><div><br /></div><div>Google is rich, so say they're flushing $100 bills. &nbsp;That's $5,760,000 a day. &nbsp;Flushing for 1,666 days or 4.5 years.<br /><br /><br />The days between buying and selling really was 617. &nbsp;Huh, according to Wikipedia, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Large_denominations_of_United_States_currency">the US no longer makes bills bigger than $100</a>. &nbsp;So, no, with a standard toilet, and readily available US currency, you could not flush it fast enough.</div>Michaelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15670593399839068429noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3874491376486678989.post-33068410858555128212014-01-28T18:07:00.001-08:002014-01-28T18:07:36.725-08:00Apple's Big Number problem.To please Wall Street and Analysts, Apple has to keep the numbers growing. &nbsp;Which they did, but not enough.<br /><br /><a href="https://twitter.com/jsnell/status/427929685415059456">From here</a>&nbsp;(embedded below), about 57% of Apple's revenue is from the iPhone.<br />~57% of their $57.6 Billion in revenues last quarter is $32.8 Billion.<br />~20% is iPad, for $11.5 Billion.<br />~12% is Mac, for $6.9 Billion.<br /><br />In the most recent quarter, Microsoft had revenue of $24.5 Billion. And a recent quarter had Google at $14.9 Billion.<br /><br />So to really grow more, Apple really has to invent a product or product category the size of a Microsoft or a Google.<br /><br />Easier said than done...but they might :) &nbsp;Or they can just keep printing money...<br /><blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en">Apple revenue PERCENTAGE by product line, since 2005. <a href="http://t.co/V1WYoBFE23">pic.twitter.com/V1WYoBFE23</a><br />— Jason Snell (@jsnell) <a href="https://twitter.com/jsnell/statuses/427929685415059456">January 27, 2014</a></blockquote><script async="" charset="utf-8" src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"></script> <br />Michaelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15670593399839068429noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3874491376486678989.post-72593744861804831142014-01-20T16:21:00.001-08:002014-01-20T16:21:25.775-08:00You2GIFA cool app that will never see the light of day.<br /><br />It let you use your iPhone or iPad to make a GIF from a YouTube video. &nbsp;(With a hard limit of 7 seconds at most.) &nbsp;<br /><br />Browse to the video you want, then hold the button to record as it plays. &nbsp;The options for setting the speed/looping work exactly like our camera app&nbsp;<a href="http://app2.it/giffish">Giffish</a>, so you can see all but the YouTube recording part in that app.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-e8fV9JHb-Hs/Ut26ZbmX-yI/AAAAAAAAPJ8/PmU93NcltRU/s1600/iphone4-screen1.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-e8fV9JHb-Hs/Ut26ZbmX-yI/AAAAAAAAPJ8/PmU93NcltRU/s1600/iphone4-screen1.png" height="320" width="213" /></a><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-wo7Q9A5Jyt4/Ut26Zd-NEJI/AAAAAAAAPJ4/QzdJjgdU6dY/s1600/iphone4-screen2.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-wo7Q9A5Jyt4/Ut26Zd-NEJI/AAAAAAAAPJ4/QzdJjgdU6dY/s1600/iphone4-screen2.png" height="320" width="213" /></a></div><br />A nice cool icon too.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Ez3tSk2l3no/Ut26UyX_uBI/AAAAAAAAPJw/eqhErfcvTzs/s1600/you2gif-152.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Ez3tSk2l3no/Ut26UyX_uBI/AAAAAAAAPJw/eqhErfcvTzs/s1600/you2gif-152.png" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">And of course we made a couple GIFs to show off how it worked...browse to your video &amp; tap the Record button.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-eXndz0z9mqs/Ut28-GfyckI/AAAAAAAAPKM/vk39VhtEX7M/s1600/browse-to-video-iphone.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-eXndz0z9mqs/Ut28-GfyckI/AAAAAAAAPKM/vk39VhtEX7M/s1600/browse-to-video-iphone.gif" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Then hold the red button to record.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-tRi5__p0Y58/Ut28-Me1rOI/AAAAAAAAPKQ/dcaPofjZe0g/s1600/hold-to-recordvideo-iphone.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-tRi5__p0Y58/Ut28-Me1rOI/AAAAAAAAPKQ/dcaPofjZe0g/s1600/hold-to-recordvideo-iphone.gif" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">We thought it would fall into the same Fair Use area that YouTube itself fits. &nbsp;But Apple said that YouTube would say "No" so it was rejected. &nbsp;Sorry Internets!</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Interested? &nbsp;Maybe I'll sell the source code or something so you could put it on your own devices...&nbsp;</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">michael@burford.net</div>Michaelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15670593399839068429noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3874491376486678989.post-88679947181645268462013-12-19T11:20:00.001-08:002013-12-19T11:20:40.602-08:00Interesting WordingSaw Intel's ad for convertible laptops. &nbsp;(Guy breaking his old laptop with a cup of coffee so his employer would have to buy him a new computer.)<br /><br />The tag line at the end is "<i>A Laptop when you need it, a Tablet when you WANT it.</i>"<br /><br />Even right there in the ad saying that a tablet is what people really WANT ("want" was very emphasized by Mr. Lipton doing the voiceover). <br /><br />Yes, many people still need a laptop for work...but that's not what they want. &nbsp;Given the choice, people are going to buy what they WANT. <br /><br />(And I've seen more and more iPads out for work too. &nbsp;At the grocery store yesterday and a manager was using one to track something. &nbsp;Before, he might have had some specialized device or even a paper printed report to check off; I don't remember ever seeing someone with a laptop walking around doing inventory. &nbsp;Now it's an iPad. &nbsp;People who say tablets aren't for work are only thinking about their one specific job type.)Michaelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15670593399839068429noreply@blogger.com0